And, so, to close the year, I wish you appreciation for those loved and lost; felicitations for good health, good luck, and good fermentables; and gratitude for your perusal of this little blog. Next year, Ninkasi willing, may we meet again.

Saturday, December 30, 2017

For the final Pic(k) of the Week of 2017, no beer. Instead, it's a 'macro' of a house-cut poinsettia, 'filmed' with a 16-millimeter extension tube.

I pronounce the plant as it is spelled: "poin SET tee uh." If you say it otherwise, ignoring that final 'i,' I say you're wrong.

Did you know that you can preserve a poinsettEEa well past the winter holidays? I guessed at that last year, and replanted it outdoors, under a tree, in the spring. Here are tips about that from Gardening Know How:

In spring, return the plant to a sunny area and water well. Cut back all canes (branches) to about 6 inches from the pot’s rim. It may also be a good idea to repot the poinsettia using the same type of soil. While poinsettias can be kept indoors throughout summer, many people choose to move them outdoors in a sunny, but protected, area of the flower garden by sinking the pot into the ground. Either way is fine. After new growth has reached between 6 to 10 inches, pinch out the tips to encourage branching. This can be done once a month until the middle of August. Once nights become longer in fall, bring the poinsettia indoors. From about September through November light becomes crucial in poinsettia plant care. In order to encourage blooming, poinsettia plants require long periods of darkness at night (about 12 hours). Therefore, move the poinsettia to a location where it will not receive any nighttime light or cover it with a box. Allow plenty of light during the day so the plant can absorb enough energy for flowering. Warmer days (65-70 F./18-21 C.) and cooler nights (55-60 F./13-16 C.) are also recommended. Provide semi-cool, humid locations in bright, indirect light with plenty of moisture once blooming occurs.

Mine fared well. But, did you notice that line about the fall? "Bring the poinsettia indoors." I ignored that advice. That's when this happened.

So pretty, but, then, a couple days after that, this happened.

Oh, well. Back to another store-cut poinsettia. Green (red?) thumbs are not my cups of beer.

Thursday, December 28, 2017

The North American Guild of Beer Writers (NAGBW) is establishing a network of mentors and mentees to "better connect its membership, to enhance communication skills, and to further understanding of the beer industry."

To that end, the NAGBW is looking for veteran beer writers to mentor aspiring writers. And, vice versa: new beer writers looking for advice on covering the industry and pitching their stories.

Friday, December 22, 2017

And if [the pint of Plain] is all drawn properly, the way it should be done, then the [contented] cream is borne majestically above to form the clerical collar that proves the goodness in its heart. And the true porter drinker would look upon such a glass with great reverence, indeed.

A brewer in Virginia, USA, recently posted a dark lament to Facebook.

"IPA, IPA, IPA! I think it's time that 'real beer' drinkers and brewers (not the Instagrammers and Untappd abusers) take beer back. When was the last time anyone saw a brown ale or a porter or stout that wasn't flavored or imperial? There is nothing quite like a nice, unflavored porter. DARK BEERS MATTER!"

A few days later, it just so happened, British beer authors Jessica Boak and Ray Bailey —in their eponymous blog's year-end list of top beer tweets— linked to a tweet from the archives of the British Broadcasting Corporation.

At the end of April 1973, then-Irish brewing company Guinness ceased production of all its porter. A few days later, on 11 May 1973, BBC presenter Larry McCoubrey drank one of the last draught pints to be had. As the BBC tweeted on 11 May 2017, the forty-fourth anniversary of that Belfast broadcast:

It's an acquired taste, of course. But, at least, it comes easier than the bitter thickness of stout. But just as England produced beer that was mild and bitter, so we developed porter and stout. This is the 'mild.' "Plain" they call it. You would always call for a pint of Plain. That was just part of the mystique that grew up around this drink.

The more essential part of it was the way in which it was drawn. Barmen could rise and fall on their ability to draw a pint of Plain.

You see, it's drawn from two barrels. A high one, first, to give it a bit of life. A good glass full of gushing good cheer that settles slowly towards the bottom of the glass into a thick, contented cream.

It takes several minutes for that cream to substantiate towards the bottom of the glass, when it's ready for the muscle and the sinew, the real body of the drink itself. And that comes from the other barrel...of flat.

And if it's all drawn properly, the way it should be done, then the cream is borne majestically above to form the clerical collar that proves the goodness in its heart. And the true porter drinker would look upon such a glass with great reverence, indeed.

If work was the curse of the drinking classes, then porter was their salvation.

And, yet, you know, it was not the traditional drink of Ireland the disciples would have you believe. This was a city drink; there were definite centers for it. It was the liquid lunch of countless working men in Dublin, and Derry, and in Belfast, where the shipyard drew most of its strength from the dark substance.

It was the drink that waited for the men as the horn blew in the evening and pubs up in Newtownards rolled around the station and up Ann Street, Short Strand, the pints of plain used to be standing in rows on the counter, waiting for the onslaught from the yard.

Used to be...for pubs progressed. Bottle beer broke through; gin and tonic took over; and porter became impolite. Lately, there have been less than a hundred pubs in Ireland selling it.

And, now, these are probably the last pints of Plain you'll probably ever see in Belfast. For on the thirtieth of April 1973, they stopped making it altogether.

This was more than a way of drinking. This really was a way of life. Porter: the drink that launched thousands of ships.

Monday, December 18, 2017

A bi-weekly, non-comprehensive roundup
of news of beer and other things.

Weeks 47/4819 November - 2 December 2017

2 December 2017
Analyzing on- and off-the-premises volumes of beer distributor sales to retailers during ten different holiday periods across the country in 2016, the National Beer Wholesalers Association (NBWA) found that ...

For other holidays, Fourth of July took the number one spot in off-the-premises sales. For on-the-premises sales, St. Patrick’s Day took the top spot while Independence Day fell to 8th. Halloween and Thanksgiving were the two holidays for which both on and off-the-premises sales were most equivalent.

— Via NBWA, which does not provide the actual sales volumes for those holidays.

30 November 2017
North Korea has tested an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of striking most of the U.S. mainland.
— Via CNN.

29 November 2017
Cask Marque is a U.K.-based organization that certifies pubs, breweries, and brewpubs that properly serve cask-conditioned ale. Its accreditation is also available in the United States.
—Via YFGF.

28 November 2017
Avery Brewing Company is the latest large craft brewery to sell a stake of its company to a foreign brewing company. Spanish brewery, Mahou San Miguel, has purchased a 30 percent share for an undisclosed amount. The [U.S.] Brewers Association —which bills itself as the advocacy organization for small and independent breweries— defines a craft brewery as one of which "less than 25 percent of the craft brewery is owned or controlled (or equivalent economic interest) by an alcohol industry member that is not itself a craft brewer." Ownership by a non-brewing entity, however, such as a private equity firm, does not count against the definition.

When asked how he felt about no longer being considered a 'craft brewer' by an organization that is located just 6 miles away from his brewery, [Brewing Founder Adam] Avery responded succinctly: 'I don’t care,' he said, noting that private equity’s 'infiltration' into the craft industry should be more of a concern than large beer company acquisitions. 'It is so funny how ‘big beer’ is demonized. The only way private equity makes money is by selling the business to someone else. Guess who will be the highest bidder in four or five years? Probably big beer. As far as the BA’s definition of what ‘craft’ is, I couldn’t disagree more.

30 November 2017
North Korea has tested an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of striking most of the U.S. mainland.
— Via CNN.

27 November 2017
U.S. barley research...

Researchers at Oregon State are [...] trying to quantify the ways different strains [of barley] affect flavor in beer, and in turn, how those strains are affected by terroir. "Barley genotype had significant effects on many sensory descriptors. The most significant sensory descriptors—when comparing barley genotypes—were cereal, color, floral, fruity, grassy, honey, malty, toasted, toffee, and sweet. Golden Promise was significantly higher in fruity, floral, and grassy flavors, whereas Full Pint was significantly higher in malty, toffee, and toasted flavors. CDC Copeland was closest to neutral for most flavor traits. There were notable differences for some descriptors between locations." That researchers documented the way different barley strains vary in flavor is entirely predictable and well-known--at least to Europeans. Americans, it seems, are centuries behind them in tumbling to these ancient truths.

It’s one of the most intense 20th-century storms you may have never heard of. And it consistently makes it to meteorologists’ top 10 lists of all-time greatest storms — including those published by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Weather Channel. The Great Thanksgiving Storm of 1950: East Coast flooding, widespread wind damage, record snowfall, and low temperatures conspired to make the storm, also known as the Great Appalachian Storm, a meteorological powerhouse. Upward of 383 deaths are attributed to this storm, which impacted 22 states and levied nearly $700 million in damage, after adjusting for inflation.

A singer and composer who developed [vocalese,] an intricate style of vocal gymnastics to match his tongue-twisting lyrics. [His] Grammy-winning vocal trio, "Lambert, Hendricks & Ross," is widely regarded as the most influential singing group in jazz history.

I do tire of references to temperance as code for everything one does not like in beer regulation. It’s up there with anxieties over lack of wine world respect. Face it – public health is a key foundation of modern western civilization. Who would choose to go back to the pre-temperance society? Even when the do-gooder sociologists in their laboratories get it wrong, no one in their right mind wants them stopping doing their work. Give the church its gruitgeld!

19 November 2017
Large craft brewery Left Hand (Boulder, Colorado) has sued White labs —a major supplier of yeast to the brewing industry— for selling it contaminated brewers yeast that, the brewery claims, forced the brewery to recall several of its beers in 2016, costing it $2 million dollars. White Labs denies the charges.
— Via Brewbound.

"We told you so," Daniel Sheehan, chief counsel of the Lakota People's Law Project, said in a statement. "It was just a matter of time. There have been over 200 significant leaks in these pipelines since the year 2000. This is the exact threat that the Lakota people were trying to protect their sole source of water from at Standing Rock."

Friday, December 15, 2017

The [U.S.] Brewers Association (BA) —"the not-for-profit trade association dedicated to small and independent American brewers"— has released an end-of-year summary, looking "back on the defining beer moments of the year."

But... NOT included were any actual numbers for production, depletions, or sales (other than the amount of homebrew produced) for 2017. Of course, there are two more weeks of sales to go before the year is out, including Christmas which is the 4th highest holiday period for off-the-premises sales.

***************
Here's a partial summary of the BA's summary:

☞ There were 6,000 breweries in operation during 2017—with 98 percent of them small and independent craft brewers.

☞ At present, 83 percent of the U.S. population lives within 10 miles of a local brewery.

☞ 'Craft' breweries contributed $67.8 billion to the U.S. economy in 2016, a 21.7 percent increase from 2014. [2017?]

☞ in 2016, 'craft' breweries were responsible for more than 456,373 full-time equivalent jobs, a 7.5 percent increase from 2014, with 128,768 of those jobs directly at breweries and brewpubs. [2017?]

☞ More than 2,700 small and independent 'craft' brewing companies, representing more than 75 percent of domestic volume, have signed on to use the Independent Craft Brewer Seal, informing beer lovers they are choosing a beer from a brewery that is independently owned. [But how many actual breweries? Most are small.]

☞ The Craft Beverage Modernization and Tax Reform Act (CBMTRA) has been added as an amendment to the larger Senate Tax Reform Bill. If passed, it would significantly reduce the federal excise tax on the first 60,000 barrels of any domestic brewery that produces fewer than 2 million barrels a year and would lower the federal excise tax on barrelage up to 6 million barrels.

☞ There are currently an estimated 1.1 million homebrewers in the U.S. In 2017, they produced more than 1.4 million barrels of beer—equaling one percent of total U.S. beer production. The National Homebrew Competition, hosted by the American Homebrewers Association, continues to be the world’s largest beer competition, this year with 8,618 entries from 3,530 homebrewers worldwide.

☞ The average 'craft' beer drinker visits 3.5 breweries near their homes and 2.5 breweries within two hours’ driving distance.

☞ American 'craft' breweries donated an estimated $73.4 million to charitable causes in 2016, up from $71 million in 2014. [2017?]

Thursday, December 14, 2017

In January 2008, I was in a restaurant/wine & beer bar in Greenville, South Carolina, flogging the beers of the brewery that was employing me.

A vintage record shop shared an entrance with the restaurant. These days, I avoid such places; they do great damage to my wallet. But, that day, I was there, so, finished with the sales call, I walked in. Fortunate for my wallet, my working schedule was filled for the day, so my browsing was limited. I purchased only one CD.

It features Shirley Horn's then personal trio: Steve Williams on drums, Charles Ables on bass, and Ms. Horn on piano and singing. And then there's the rest of her lineup: a young Roy Hargrove on trumpet; Washington D.C. stalwarts, bassist Steve Novosel and tenor saxman Buck Hill; and stars of the jazz firmament, drummers Elvin Jones and Billy Hart, and tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson.

The sessions were recorded in Ms. Horn's D.C. home, but the quality doesn't betray that. Not only is the music exquisite — Shirley Horn was one of the great chanteuse/pianists of the latter portion of the 20th century — but printed on the back page of the liner notes is an astounding recipe for ... Beef & Beer (and something else).

Look at the ingredient list. Scroll down to the final two ingredients: a bottle of beer — Heineken — and a lot of wine — Wild Irish Rose.

In case you've forgotten your days of searching for a quick, cheap buzz, the latter is a sweet fortified 'wine' of a mere 18% alcohol. The recipe calls for a full half pint of it! It suggests you "open a beer or drink & chill"; and, maybe to regain a healthy veneer, the recipe concludes with an underscored admonition: "Remember no salt."

Although the recipe looks like winter comfort food, I've never cooked it (and probably won't *). But, since that day in Greenville, I have replayed the disc many times.

Ms. Horn died in 2005. I am fortunate to have heard and seen her perform live on several occasions. Her music —quiet and sensitive yet insinuatingly powerful— is the main ingredient. It lives on.

Tuesday, December 12, 2017

This was the scene on a recent late Sunday afternoon: watching football on the tube and drinking —from a lantern tankard— Christmas Ale, a 'specialty Scotch ale,' brewed by Bell's Brewery (Comstock, Michigan)

☞ The brewery's take (on the beer):

This traditional Scotch Ale is rich and malty with notes of caramel and a warm finish. Certain to make any occasion festive, or at least a bit more bearable. Enjoy with the company of friends and family. Alcohol-by-volume (abv): 7.5%.

☞ YFGF's take:

It's a translucent ruddy reddish-brown, on the fuller side of medium-bodied, malty in flavor (toffee, nuts, caramel) without being treacly, hinting at grape jelly, and finishing with a gentle hop presence that helps to dry the finish.

☞ Final observations:
Not for hopheads, Christmas Ale is quite the enjoyable beer and strong (not so, the NFL product). But warning! It's a far different beer than the Bell's Winter White Ale. Rather, it's like an American take on a trad beer that, I would surmise, Bell's Director of OpsJohn Mallet might want to drink. I did.

A series of occasional reviews of beer (and wine and spirits). No scores; only descriptions.

Saturday, December 09, 2017

Cancer survivor Charlie, a French bulldog resplendent in his snappy Christmas bow-tie, was expectantly watching the Reindog Parade and Contest, at the Atlanta Botanical Garden, in Atlanta, Georgia, on 2 December 2017.

The competition, in its tenth annual observance, showcases canines in their winter fashions (and their companion humans). Categories include Best Puppy, Best Adult, Best Botanical, Best Dog-Owner Dress-alike, Best Dog Pack, and, ultimately, Best in Show.

Saturday, December 02, 2017

This photo was taken in December 2011, but Garden Lights, Holiday Nights is an annual December tradition of the Atlanta Botanical Garden in Atlanta, Georgia. Over one million energy-efficient LED lights bedeck the 30-acre garden and facilities.

Pictured is a night view from the 45-foot high Canopy Walk, a reverse-suspension bridge, the only tree-canopy-level walkway of its kind in the United States.

Wednesday, November 29, 2017

Since 1997, Cask Marque has been ensuring that the cask ale you drink in pubs in the U.K. has been in perfect condition. Qualified assessors make over 20,000 visits to pubs each year in England, Scotland, Wales, and Europe to check the temperature, appearance, aroma, and taste of Britain’s favourite drink.

Does your American pub (or brewery taproom or brewpub) serve a "great pint" of cask-ale? If so, you should know that Cask Marque accreditation IS available now for pubs in the United States.

In fact, Cask Marque has been assessing American pubs for several years, initially led by Paul Pendyck, a purveyor of cask-ale equipment in the U.S. and assisted by Alex Hall, a cask-ale partisan in New York. Both, by the way, are British expats.

Now, Steve Hamburg, one of the premier cellarmen in the U.S., has taken the reins as Cask Marque's USA Director and Chief Assessor.

****************
What does it take for a pub (or brewery taproom or brewpub) to gain accreditation in the U.S.?

First and foremost, as self-evident as this may sound, your pub must serve cask-ale every day, or close to it. Simply tossing a cask up on the bar once a week for Firkin Friday doesn't cut it.

After that, it's the big five criteria: temperature, aroma, taste, appearance, and cleanliness.

Temperature of beer.

Real ale1 should be served, in the customer's glass, at between 11 and 13 °C. That's 51-55 °F. (And here in the U.S., we could lower that to 10 °C / 50 °F.) That's not warm, it's cellar cool: neither too cold to mask a beer's flavor nor too warm to rob a beer of refreshment. (Unfiltered beer that is served too cold can could also develop a 'chill haze' as proteins come out of solution, which speaks to 'clarity,' discussed below.)

Aroma of beer.

No evidence of staling, contamination, or otherwise off-aromas that don't belong in the beer as brewed.

Clarity of beer.

This one gets tricky. As classically presented in the U.K., cask-ales should be bright as a filtered beer without filtration. But American brewers often eschew clarity (and some UK brewers do as well). So, as with aroma, the clarity should be as the beer was brewed. No extraneous yeast or proteinaceous sludge.

Flavor (& conditioning) of beer.

Not gassy or foamy; not flat. No evidence of staling or age. The flavor should be representative of the beer as brewed; conditioning (carbonation) should be as the brewery intended.

And a sixth criterion. NO gas pressure used to dispense the beer, whether CO2, nitrogen, or whatever. That being stipulated, a cask breather2 is not a demerit; only badly served cask-ale is.

When your pub passes its inspection, it receives a Cask Marque metal plaque. The expiration date basically works like that on a car license plate. A pub must renew each year (and pass its subsequent assessments) to get a new valid sticker.

****************
Most pub owners are very money conscious, as, of course, they should be. And, yes, there is a nominal annual fee for Cask Marque accreditation, which helps defray the cost of the U.S. licensing fee and materials. But pub owners should view Cask Marque as an economical value-added business-augmenter. It's an advertisement of achievement, just as a victory at the Great American Beer Festival would show brewing skill or a Cicerone accreditation highlight serving acumen. It's a public acknowledgment of a pub's (or brewery's or brewpub's) cask excellence and, thus, the value to a customer therein.

Serving a great pint of cask-ale is not rocket science. But it does require care and attention to detail. So, do it. Be that cask-ale hero. Get your pub its Cask Marque accreditation. And, besides, that Cask Marque plaque is a damned nice thing to display.

Monday, November 20, 2017

A bi-weekly, non-comprehensive roundup
of news of beer and other things.

Weeks 43/4422 October - 4 November 2017

4 November 2017
This date marked the 100th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, a sixty-seven-word proclamation from Britain’s then-foreign secretary expressing his government's support for a Jewish homeland in Palestine.

The Balfour Declaration is held up as a seminal event, the first formal utterance of the modern Israeli state’s right to exist (though some historians quibble that a “national home” is not the same thing as a state). For that reason, it is also bitterly regarded by many Palestinians as the first instrument of their dispossession. In 1917, Jews made up less than 10 percent of Palestine’s population — a century later, they are now the majority, while millions of Palestinians live in exile or in refugee camps.

31 October 2017
The other Reformation: how Martin Luther, five hundred years ago, helped to change our beer.

In the 16th century, the Catholic Church had a stranglehold on beer production, since it held the monopoly on gruit — the mixture of herbs and botanicals (sweet gale, mugwort, yarrow, ground ivy, heather, rosemary, juniper berries, ginger, cinnamon) used to flavor and preserve beer. Hops, however, were not taxed, considered undesirable weeds. [...] Even before the Reformation, German princes had been moving toward hops [...] But Luther's revolt gave the weed a significant boost. The fact that hops were tax-free constituted only part of the draw. Hops had other qualities that appealed to the new movement; chiefly, their excellent preservative qualities. [...] If the Catholic Church lost control over the printed word with the invention of the printing press — the technological weapon that ensured Luther's success — it lost control over beer with the rise of hops.

30 October 2017
While the value of the U.S. hop crop in 2017 is two-and-one-half times that of the crop in 1977, public investment in hop effort has diminished by ninety percent. To partially "reverse this misalignment," the [U.S.] Brewers Association has announced an agreement with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) to fund a public hop breeding program within the USDA system. The program will fund the hiring of one full-time USDA breeder and include a

hop sensory assessment program in 2018, utilizing new sensory methods that will include hundreds of brewers to probe brewer acceptance and to guide rational acreage increase decisions. This assessment program is essential to bridge a persistent gap between variety development and commercialization.

30 October 2017
The monks of Mount St Bernard Abbey, in Leicestershire, U.K., plan to open a brewery on the monastary grounds. Pending accreditation by the International Trappist Association, the brewery will become the world's twelfth Trappist brewery (and the first in the U.K.).
—Via Leicester Mercury.

29 October 2017
“Great Black Music: Ancient to the Future.” Muhal Richard Abrams —composer, pianist, musical visionary, co-founder, in 1965, of Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians— has died at 87.
—Via New York Times.

27 October 2017
Georgia Department of Transportation employees conducting roadwork on Interstate-75 outside of Macon, Georgia, uncovered a cave that had been dug out nearly two centuries earlier by the state's oldest brewery —the Jacob Russell & Julius Peter Brewery (established in 1837)— to lager its beers. The brewery 'vault' was located below an African-American cemetery built after the brewery closed in 1878. The department said that it would work to avoid impacting the cave with the highway expansion project.
—Via [U.S.] Macon Telegraph.

26 October 2017
On October 19, the Pan-STARRS 1 telescope in Hawaii spotted the first observed object from outside our solar system. The long and rocky cigar-shaped object spins on its own axis every 7.3 hours It has a burnt dark-reddish hue due to millions of years of radiation from cosmic rays and most likely has a high metal content. Its orbit and shape firmly place it in the category of interstellar origin.
—Via Space.com.

26 October 2017
With the introduction of the U.S. Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), the federal government now treats alcoholic beverages as food products, falling under the purview of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
—Via [U.S.] Brewers Association.

25 October 2017
Another 'craft' brewery has been sold...but this time to another 'craft' brewery. Harpoon Brewery, of Boston, Massachusetts, has acquired Clown Shoes Brewing. To be precise, it was Mass Bay Brewing Company which did the buying, the parent company of Harpoon and UFO that was created after Harpoon's founder Rich Doyle left in 2014 (to set up his own 'craft brewery holding company called Enjoy Beer LLC). Clown Shoes Beer was founded by Gregg Berman, in Ipswich, Massachusetts, in 2009.
—Via The Full Pint.

25 October 2017
Fats Domino, rock 'n' roll pioneer of New Orleans, has died at 89. A contemporary of Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, and Jerry Lee Lewis, Domino was among the first acts inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and was reportedly only second to Presley in record sales thanks to a titanic string of 11 top 10 hits between 1955 and 1960, including "Blueberry Hill" and "Ain’t That a Shame."

23 October 2017
In 2014, after a survey of its members, the [U.S.] Brewers Association pointed out that, “No common (tool or) terminology or lexicon exists to describe the diverse range of flavors found in malts from different sources.” Partially in response, the Sensory Technical Subcommittee of the American Society of Brewing Chemists (ASBC) recognized "the opportunity to develop a pragmatic approach to malt sensory evaluation. Selected brewery panels throughout the U.S. then created more than 4,000 unique aroma terms —pleasant and unpleasant. Paring the results to 20 primary aroma descriptors encompassing 83 specific terms, the ASBC Sensory Committee created a Base Malt Flavor Map.
—Via CraftBeer.

23 October 2017
Vice President Pence cast the tie-breaking vote as the U.S. Senate blocked new regulations allowing U.S. consumers to sue banks for financial malfeasance concerning accounts and credit cards.
—Via Washington Post.

23 October 2017
Amazon has halted online wine sales due to conflict-of-interest arising from its purchase of Whole Foods, which sells wine in its stores. The decision to shut down seems to be due to so-called “tied-house laws,” which prohibit an alcohol merchant from receiving payments from other suppliers to advertise their goods.
—Via Wine Spectator.

23 October 2017
'Craft' brewery sustainability is not simply tree-hugging morality but profit-making, good business. Toward that end, the [U.S.] Brewers Association has released its second Sustainability Benchmarking Update, basing it on data from 2016.

This document is an update to the inaugural report, and it highlights certain data from 2015. Electricity, natural gas, water, and purchased CO2 were evaluated based on a normalized scale per barrel (bbl) of beer packaged. [...]
Best-in-class performance from the first two years of submitted data includes:

6.7 kWh electricity/bbl (ranged from 6.7-709)

0.84 therm natural gas/bbl (ranged from 0.84-37.6)

3.31 bbl water/bbl (ranged from 3.31-81.7)

0.0 lb CO2 purchased/bbl (ranged from 0-78)

[At least one responding 'craft' brewery was apparently able to capture enough CO2 during fermentation to scrub it 'clean' for all needed use at points of operation. That's an expensive proposition beyond the means of all but larger breweries.]
—Via [U.S.] Brewers Association.

23 October 2017
Cask ale cellarmanship advice, published in 1850, often ignored in 2017.

The Management Of The Beer Cask

Place it in that part of the house which is coolest and most free from damp.

Tap it when it first comes in, and never shake or disturb it again.

Let it stand two or three days before you draw any of it for use.

Never leave the peg out.

Do not draw it until just before it is to be consumed.

Do not have a supply which will last longer than (on the average) three weeks: —a little longer in winter— and shorter in summer.

The Proprietors of the Swan Brewery, Walham Green, Fulham - (Established 1765) - Beg to Present These Pages on Beer and Brewing; and Will Feel Honoured by Their Acceptence and Perusal.
—Via Gary Gillman, at Beer et seq.

23 October 2017
Something's rotten in the state of Stone Brewing. Chief Operating Officer, Pat Tiernan, fired/resigned; the latest in a recent exodus.

Tiernan’s resignation, however, comes on the heels of a number of high profile personnel shakeups at the nation’s ninth largest craft brewery by volume. Most significantly, in August of last year, the company named a new CEO in Dominic Engels. Leaving his former post as president of POM Wonderful, Engels supplanted Stone founder and then-CEO Greg Koch, who in turn assumed the post of executive chairman. Stone proceeded to cut “approximately 5%” of its workforce about a month later, eliminating more than 50 jobs in the process. These two events were preceded by the June 2016 departure of longtime brewmaster Mitch Steele, who left to open a new brewery of his own in Georgia. Former Stone brewmaster Peter Wiens, meanwhile, was named the first brewmaster of Guinness' new Stateside brewery this past June.

The peak year for 'craft' beer was 2014, when it added 3.3 million barrels.

Most of the new volume growth for 'craft' this year will come from smaller breweries, not big-name 'craft' brands such as Boston Beer or Sierra Nevada. Larger brands are suffering from a perception of not being authentic 'craft.'

Grocery chains are not adding total space this year for 'craft' brands.

'Craft' beer is forecast to represent about 12 percent of total beer volume this year, up slightly from 2016 levels.

In 2017, homebrewers will have produced approximately 1.4 million barrels of beer, 1% of all beer produced in the U.S.

Total number of breweries

Nearly 6,000 U.S. breweries are expected to be in operation by the end of this year, up from about 5,300 at the end of 2016. The vast majority of them will be 'craft'(small, independently-oned, and/or locally focused).

In 1970, there were 4,000 breweries in the world. At the end of 2016, there were 20,000.

The number of beer brands, worldwide (excluding one-offs), is close to 250,000.

In 2016, worldwide 'craft' beer sales totaled $85 billion.

**************

Beer vs. wine & spirits?

In 2016, consumer preference for beer increased from 42% to 43%, for wine decreased from 34% to 32%, and for spirits decreased from 21% to 20%. 36% of the population does not consume alcohol. (This is an interesting poll result from Gallup. Numerous other media are saying the opposite: that Americans are shifting away from beer to wine and spirits.)

Among many beery accomplishments, Tim Webb is also the author of The Good Beer Guide Belgium, first published in 1992, and now in its 7th edition (the latter co-authored in 2014 with Joe Stange). The 8th edition is scheduled for release in spring 2018; in fact, Webb was working on the final revisions during this America trip. Sadly, it will be his last update to the series.

lucky enough to have spent the last 25 or so years sipping and savouring beers and spirits all around the world, and getting paid to write and talk about it. Along the way, I’ve managed to author or co-author ten books, beginning with the first of two editions of The Great Canadian Beer Guide back in 1994. [...] Among my other books, I’m extremely proud of The World Atlas of Beer, which I co-wrote with Tim Webb and has now been printed in eleven international editions in nine languages.

In previous editions, Best Beers: The Indispensable Guide to the World’s Beers had been entitled The Pocket Guide to Beer. This was both because that is what the books had been and because, to some degree, Messrs. Webb and Beaumont wrote them as an homage to the late beer writer, Michael Jackson, who had begun the Pocket Beer series in 1986.

For the 2017 edition, the authors have retitled and re-tooled the book to include fewer beer reviews. And why is that?

Our own very conservative estimate places the global brewery total at over 20,000, but it is likely that there are many more than that. [...] The worldwide count of regular beers is fast closing on a quarter-million, and when one-offs are included, doubtless well beyond it.
[...]

So, you might ask, why create a book that features even fewer beers? The answer is focus.
Rather than attempt to deliver a cross-section of breweries spanning the globe, we have assembled a carefully selected group of what we firmly believe are the best minds in beer [listed at the back of the book] and tasked them to deliver detailed reviews of the absolute best beers their native lands have to offer. Not the most talked about or rarest or the most obscure, but simply the finest ales and lagers and mixed-fermentation beers that eager enthusiasts might actually be able to get their hands on. Star ratings have been dispensed with because all the beers we have featured are at the top of their class.

That evening in Georgia, the audience was served anecdotes and appetizers, cheeses and full plates, and six beers, too (but no quadrupels). The presentation was recorded; at some point, I'll post a transcription, including Beaumont's quad rant and Webb's saison rant. In the meantime, here is another, less 'artistic' view of Mr. Webb (left) and Mr. Beaumont (right):

Friday, November 17, 2017

Garrett Oliver —author, bon vivant, editor of The Oxford Companion to Beer, and brewmaster for Brooklyn Beer— recently had something to say about so-called New England India Pale Ales.

I think it (NEIPA) is a fad. These things come and go. I have seen a great many fads over my 28 years of brewing. Three or four years ago, it was black IPA —everyone brewed one. Now, it is hard to find one.

And more...

New England IPA is a beer style that can be really tasty when it is well made, but it can't even sit on a shelf for two weeks. It has no shelf life to it at all. It is the first beer style based around Instagram culture. [...] It is based on the idea that you wait online or at a brewery to get some of this limited thing.

—Read the full interview with Mr. Oliver at the The Morning Advertiser (in the U.K.), published on 15 November 2017.

******************

What is NEIPA?

Typically cloudy in appearance and loaded with fruity esters from both hopping and fermentation, New England IPAs [sometimes known as NEIPAs or Vermont-style IPAs] rose to fame on the back of a beer called Heady Topper from The Alchemist Brewery in northern Vermont. Other northeastern US and central Canadian breweries soon started to emulate the massively successful beer, and from there this new style spread westward [and south] and eventually overseas.

Along the way, the appearance of these beers gradually evolved, growing first densely cloudy, then turbid and finally reaching something resembling orange juice with a head on it. As the "turbidity stakes" grew hotter, it came out that some breweries were adding flour and fruit purées to increase the cloudiness and "juicy" character of their beers.

Surprisingly, the principal difficulty with such ales is not that their appearance might put drinkers off — a dense cloudiness has, in some circles, come to be perceived as a mark of quality — but that some of these ales lack the flavour stability necessary in a market where competition is growing and kegs or cans of beer might not wind up being consumed within an optimal time frame.

In their new book, Mssrs. Webb and Beaumont alliteratively placed their NEIPA description, accompanied by a few other beer 'style' candidates, under the heading, Suspect Styles & Tenous Trends. Mr. Oliver, in his interview, was adamant that his brewery would never brew such a beer, throwing shade: "We don't do bandwagon." And this blog's writer, a past brewer, simply disdains ugly beer.

So, whence NEIPA? Its murk —and beer murkiness in general— continues to pop up all over, unabated. What do we know?
Instagram or not.

Saturday, November 11, 2017

Umami and oleogustus! Today would have been the eighty-ninth birthday of scientist Dr. Morten Meilgaard, a man of good taste.

Born on 11 November 1928, Dr. Meilgaard would become a pioneer of the science of beer flavor identification and nomenclature. In 1979, he created the Beer Flavor Wheel, a landmark organoleptic tool that the European Brewery Convention, the American Society of Brewing Chemists, and the Master Brewers Association of the Americas soon designated as an accepted standard. His book, Sensory Evaluation Techniques, became a textbook for sensory science.

Dr. Meilgaard died on 11 April 2009, at age 80. His Beer Flavor Wheel is still being used today by brewers, beer judges, and sensory scientists. His textbook is now in its 5th (and revised) printing. His influence on brewing (and craft brewing) and on the enjoyment of beers is ongoing and substantial.

Above, Meilgaard is pictured in 1962, sailing in Australia (with beer and cigarette), at age 34. The photo is via Stephen Goodfellow, an adopted son of Meilegard, who wrote the following biography to accompany the photo:

Morten Christian Meilgaard was born on Fyn, Denmark in 1928. His younger siblings, Ida, Jorgen, and Erik, followed in short succession. As their father, Anton Meilgaard, was a country doctor, they were brought up in a rural milieu in Morud. Their school was a considerable distance away, and during some winters, they would ski to pursue their education.

Morten caught the travel bug early, taking a road trip with his friends Finn and Torben, pulling a creaky four-wheeled cart around Jutland in 1944, during the German occupation of Denmark.

After WW II, Morten pursued a degree as a chemical engineer and became a research chemist specializing in yeasts for Alfred Jorgensens Laboratorium in Copenhagen. This dovetailed nicely with his love of travel, and his job took him all over the World. He became the Johnny Appleseed of establishing the [nomeclature of] flavors of beer throughout the world, including in Japan, South Africa, and the Americas.

Morten's contribution to the field of sensory science cannot be underestimated; it was truly extensive. Amongst his many contributions, He is the major contributor to the flavor wheel, a Rosetta Stone of sensory evaluation science.

Morten's publication, Sensory Evaluation Techniques, is the educational standard in this field of science. He was quite possibly the foremost expert in his field.

During his work and travels in England, he met Manon Meadows. They fell in love and remained married for almost fifty years, until her death in 2007.

Justin Meilgaard, Morten's and Manon's son, was born in England, 1966.

In 1967, the entire family, including Manon's mother, Doris Meadows, moved from Denmark to Monterrey Mexico where Morten worked for the Cuauhtemoc Brewery from 1967 to 1973.

In 1973, Morten was hired by Peter Stroh of the Stroh Brewery, Detroit, where he worked as Peter's right-hand man until the brewery was acquired by the Miller Brewing Company in 1999, at which point Morten retired.

Even after retirement, he continued to be active in his profession for many years, doing consulting jobs for the Danish Government, working with his co-editors on a revised edition of his book, and donating his extensive collection of brewing literature to Wayne State University [in Detroit, Michigan].

In 2008 Morten returned to Denmark and Sweden to visit family and revisit the important sites of his childhood and early adulthood.

Morten is survived by his younger brothers and sister, Jorgen, Erik, and Ida, and by his sons, Justin Meilgaard and myself.

**************

Meilgard's Beer Flavor Wheel

[Beer descriptors in the Beer Flavor Wheel] are divided first into those perceived by sense of taste and those perceived in aroma. The descriptors are then organized into 14 categories, each of which contains between one and six descriptors. Meilgaard's aim in creating this wheel was to establish a standard vocabulary of beer evaluation and to this day many organizations use his Beer Flavor Wheel as a reference tool.

A more detailed description of the Beer Flavor Wheel —"Focus On Beer Flavor"— was written in 1997 by Scott Bickham (of the BJCP) for Brewing Techniques, a long defunct magazine whose articles are —thank goodness— maintained online.

In 2016, scientists Lindsay Barr and Nicole Garneau 'updated' Dr. Meilgaards' wheel with their Beer Flavor Map, a graphic explication of beer flavor rather than of chemical analysis. Among other changes, the new 'map' elevated “umami” (savory) and “oleogustus” (fat) to the subcategory of taste and designated “mouthfeel” as a primary sense.

We elected to use the common descriptors to make the Beer Flavor Map useful to anyone that picks it up, no matter if they had sensory training. This structure allows more people to speak using a common vocabulary of beer flavors. The map bridges the gap for people to begin to associate the descriptive vocabulary with the chemicals.

Lindsay Barr works as the sensory specialist at New Belgium Brewing and has her BS in biochemistry and molecular biology as well as an MS in food science and technology. Dr. Nicole Garneau received her BA in Genetics and her Ph.D. in Microbiology, and currently is the curator and department chair of health sciences at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. Both are members of the Beer and Food Working Group of the [U.S.] Brewers Association. The team is developing a companion model —to make the technical side of flavor just as accessible as the descriptive —and a mobile app— to combine the descriptive and chemical sides of sensory analysis.

Pic(k) of the Week: one in a weekly series of photos taken (or noted) by me, posted on Saturdays, and often, but not always, with a good fermentable as the subject.

Wednesday, November 08, 2017

A film, called Brewmaster, directed by Douglas Tirola, will arrive in theatres in the new year.

The trailer, which you can watch exclusively on Food & Wine, details several aspects of American beer culture. It follows one man as he studies to acquire his Master Cicerone certification, the beer equivalent of becoming a sommelier. Another thread in the movie follows a young man who quit his job as a lawyer to brew his own beer and pursue his dream of opening a brewery of his own.

The film is also peppered with expert voices in the beer world, such as Jim Koch, the co-founder of the Boston Beer Company; Vaclav Berka, a senior brewmaster at Pilsner Urquell (the company funded the film in honor of its 175th anniversary); and Charles Papazian, who founded the Association of Brewers and the Great American Beer Festival.

And the trailer reeks of fanboy-dom. Beer is referred to as the “most noble beverage ever conceived by man” and “a gift from God.” Food and Wine Magazine, in presenting the trailer, states that the documentary will be required viewing for "beer fanatics." Which does not promise a serious, 'documentary,' consideration of the topic.

But trailers are designed to sound loud and proud. And, as counterpoint, it does contain is this snippet, from Garrett Oliver, beer author and brewmaster of the Brooklyn Brewing Company:

If you can't put that beer out tasting essentially the same every time, that doesn't mean you're a craft brewer. It means you're not a brewer.

Food and Wine Magazine says that Brewmaster will have select screenings in November and will be released to the general public in January. I don't know director Douglas Tirola from John Facenda, but just on that Garrett Oliver statement alone, maybe this might be worth the price of admission.

Without further comment, here's the trailer presented for your enjoyment.

Saturday, November 04, 2017

The entire front disc. Even though it's referred to as "top", it faces forward, not up. It's circumferenced by a wooden ridge called a chimb (white arrow), or chime. The head consists of four planks: two crescent-moon shaped pieces called cants (bright green arrows). Between them are the two middles (blue arrows). The lower cant is where the keystone bung sits.

2) BACK HEAD (not pictured)

The back of the cask.

3) PITCH (forest green arrow)

The BELLY of the cask, made up of several wooden planks called staves (aquamarine arrows). The shive bung (fuscia arrow) sits at the top of the pitch.

4) QUARTERs (forest green arrows)

The two sections of the belly between the pitch and the front and rear chimes, respectively.

5) HOOPS (red arrows)

Metal bands keep the heads and staves securely in place.

**************

BITS & PIECES

1) SOFT SPILE (pale green arrow)

Porous bamboo peg inserted into the tut in the shive bung. The tut (not pictured) is an indentation in the center of the shive bung. When venting a cask, the tut is hammered through, and the spile inserted.

2) STILLAGE (dark blue arrow)

Stand on which the cask sits, angled slightly forward toward the top face, the bottom of the back chimb no higher than the level of the top of the keystone.

**************

MORE

1) WOOD OR METAL

A beer cask can be made of wood or metal although stainless steel is much more the common choice these days. Although metal casks are welded together and don't have staves as do wooden ones, one can still refer to a cask's heads, chimbs, keystone, shive bung, spiles, stillage, etc. Ditto for plastic casks.

2) FIRKINS

Casks come in many sizes. A firkin is one size of cask, equal to 10.8 U.S. gallons.

The cask above is NOT a firkin, but a 10 U.S. gallon wooden cask. It did, however, contain cask-conditioned ale. *.

Volume sizes here are given in U.S. measure. Thus, a 10.8 U.S.-gallon firkin (U.S.) is identical in volume to a 9 U.K.-gallon firkin (U.K.)

NOTA BENE

A barrel and a cask, while superficially similar, serve two distinct purposes.☞ A barrel is for aging. ☞ A cask is for cask-conditioning. ☞ A barrel-aged beer is well-aged; a cask-conditioned beer is, well, fresh. It's the package and the intent.

Friday, November 03, 2017

Rayner M. Johnson (Age 75) of Springfield VA, passed November 5, 2017 from complications of a sudden stroke. He is survived by his loving and supportive wife of 44 years, Kathy; sons, Matthew and Charlie (Anika) and the grandchildren.

If you're a good beer person who doesn't live in Virginia (or Maryland or the District of Columbia) you probably don't know Rayner (Ray) Johnson. But boy, oh, boy, those who do, do!

For nearly 40 years, Ray was an organizer of the Blue-Gray Show, a premier breweriana show of the East Coast. He was a member of the National Association of Breweriana Advertising (NABA) and the Brewery Collectible Club of America (BCCA), and a past national Board member of the latter as well as an inductee into its Hall of Fame. Maybe more so, Mr. Johnson was an indefatigable supporter of Virginia 'craft' beer. He visited every brewery in the state, those extant, some shuttered, and those many planned.